Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

204. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the evidence base, if any, his Department has on the impact of tightening family reunification rules on retention and recruitment problems identified in the Department of Finance’s Future Forty: Ireland’s Demographic Outlook published in September 2025; the engagement across departments to rectify this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17864/26]

Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

205. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if his attention has been drawn to the impact of tightened family reunification criteria on the labour market, as detailed in the NESC (Council Paper No.171, December 2025) and the Future Forty: Ireland’s Demographic Outlook published in September 2025: whether he has raised concerns about labour market impacts and the ability of businesses to recruit suitable staff with his Government colleagues; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17865/26]

Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

212. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the evidence base, if any, his Department has on the impact of tightening family reunification rules on retention and recruitment problems identified in the Department of Finance’s Future Forty: Ireland’s Demographic Outlook published in September 2025; the way in which this issue was considered in the revision of the Non-EEA Family Reunification Policy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17863/26]

Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

213. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality whether his Department assessed the knock on impact of the new policy on family reunification will have a knock on impact on the recruitment of non-EEA workers in Ireland, particularly those on general employment permits; whether they carried out an SME test on the policy; the steps his Department is taking to address this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17867/26]

Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 204, 205, 212 and 213 together.

My Department completed a comprehensive review of the Non-EEA Family Reunification Policy and the final review report was published on 26 November 2025, see link:

. (www.assets.gov.ie/static/documents/160c592a/Final_Report_on_the_Review_of_the_Non-EEA_Family_Reunification_Policy.pdf)

I can advise the Deputy that the existing income requirements for employment permit holders, including General Employment Permit (GEP) holders, to be joined by their spouses, partners and minor children were unchanged by the review of the Family Reunification Policy. Therefore, there was no need to carry out an SME test with regard to this review as it had no significant negative impact on the labour market.

Under the Family Reunification Policy, a GEP holder must have a gross income in excess of €30,000 in the previous year to sponsor a spouse or partner, which remains a fixed figure which has not changed since 2013 and which is now below the Minimum Annual Remuneration required for all types of new GEP.

GEP holders must also have a gross income in excess of €44,300 to sponsor one child, with the threshold increasing for each subsequent child. The income thresholds for children, as before, remain indexed against eligibility for the Working Family Payment (WFP) based on the number of children a sponsor wishes to bring. This means that the threshold to sponsor one child will soon rise to €50,200 in line with increases to the eligibility threshold for WFP.

For such applicants, the requirement to produce financial records to support an application has reduced from two years to one year, to align with the existing one year waiting period for sponsors who are GEP holders. Additionally, the revised policy extends access to employment without the need for an employment permit to children, over the age of 16, who have been granted family reunification. These are children of, for example, Critical Skills Employment Permit holders, and GEP holders.

A number of measures were taken in the review to simplify the Policy and to improve access to the labour market for those coming to Ireland with key skills. With effect from 15 May 2024, the first part of the review was implemented in that eligible spouses and partners of General Employment Permit and Intra-Corporate Transferee Employment Permit holders, who have been granted family reunification in accordance with the Policy, are now registered on a Stamp 1G permission. This allows the holder to take up employment without the need to obtain a separate Employment Permit.

The tightening of the Policy, as referred to by the Deputy, principally related to increasing and indexing income thresholds to bring adult dependents, such as elderly parents.

My Department carried out in-depth consultation with other affected Departments as part of the review, including at a senior official level through the Strategic Migration Policy Group. This group includes the Departments of Enterprise, Social Protection, Housing, Further and Higher Education, Finance, Education, Health, Rural and Community Affairs and the Department of the Taoiseach. The “Future Forty” fiscal and economic outlook was discussed at this group, and consideration was given to the ability of businesses to recruit staff.

The annual revision of the policy in future, in terms of uprating financial thresholds, will provide an opportunity for this issue to be kept under ongoing review in terms of the changing levels of both the Minimum Annual Remuneration rates for employment permits and also the Working Family Payment (WFP).